I remember Haverty little guy on the wing , Jimmy Bloomfield , Vic Groves ( Perry's uncle I believe ) I used to go on a large ledge just infront of a crash barrier in line with the edge of the penalty area and the left touchline . I remember my first match in 1956 , as we walked up the back steps my mum said stop here and just look at the pitch and take it in. That was the last I saw of her until just after half time as I was scooped up and passed over the heads of the crowd to the front. I was 9 yrs at the time.

"Never be deceived that the rich will permit you to vote away their wealth."

islandboy wrote:The 1950's!!! The good old days, I was working at the age of 15 at Simpsons in Piccadilly and every saturday that the gunners were at home we finished work at 1pm and went straight into the Three Crowns Pub for an hour before travelling on the tube to Arsenal and getting in the North End queue and paying a bob to get in (my wages in those days were £1-7-6d) and I lived in Romford, our group were always on the step at the lefthand side of the goal and I can remember little Jo Haverty running down right wing, Tommy Docherty, John Radford, Don Roper and many more that I have forgotten.

If anybody attempted to stand on our wall it did'nt take us long to remove them and we never got put in the cage as we were to clever for that, all the mates I had then have all disappeared from the face of the earth we did'nt have segregation in those days but we had a very good time.

THOSE REALLY WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

I remember Joe Haverty tricky little winger he was tiny made Cazorla look like Peter Crouch.He died in 2009 aged 72

islandboy wrote:The 1950's!!! The good old days, I was working at the age of 15 at Simpsons in Piccadilly and every saturday that the gunners were at home we finished work at 1pm and went straight into the Three Crowns Pub for an hour before travelling on the tube to Arsenal and getting in the North End queue and paying a bob to get in (my wages in those days were £1-7-6d) and I lived in Romford, our group were always on the step at the lefthand side of the goal and I can remember little Jo Haverty running down right wing, Tommy Docherty, John Radford, Don Roper and many more that I have forgotten.

If anybody attempted to stand on our wall it did'nt take us long to remove them and we never got put in the cage as we were to clever for that, all the mates I had then have all disappeared from the face of the earth we did'nt have segregation in those days but we had a very good time.

THOSE REALLY WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

I remember Joe Haverty tricky little winger he was tiny made Cazorla look like Peter Crouch.He died in 2009 aged 72

Wow I did'nt know that, he was the same age as me, "It must be the Isle of Wight air that does the trick, I am 75 now and still visiting the Emirates Stadium.

islandboy wrote:The 1950's!!! The good old days, I was working at the age of 15 at Simpsons in Piccadilly and every saturday that the gunners were at home we finished work at 1pm and went straight into the Three Crowns Pub for an hour before travelling on the tube to Arsenal and getting in the North End queue and paying a bob to get in (my wages in those days were £1-7-6d) and I lived in Romford, our group were always on the step at the lefthand side of the goal and I can remember little Jo Haverty running down right wing, Tommy Docherty, John Radford, Don Roper and many more that I have forgotten.

If anybody attempted to stand on our wall it did'nt take us long to remove them and we never got put in the cage as we were to clever for that, all the mates I had then have all disappeared from the face of the earth we did'nt have segregation in those days but we had a very good time.

THOSE REALLY WERE THE GOOD OLD DAYS.

I remember Joe Haverty tricky little winger he was tiny made Cazorla look like Peter Crouch.He died in 2009 aged 72

Wow I did'nt know that, he was the same age as me, "It must be the Isle of Wight air that does the trick, I am 75 now and still visiting the Emirates Stadium.

This is a good thread can I ask some of the more senior posters if you've noticed a change in the Polices' attitude over the years? As when I first went to the North bank it was terraced and was also during the early 80's and fans were viewed quite shoddily by all.Was it like this during the 50's and 60's?

dropshort wrote:This is a good thread can I ask some of the more senior posters if you've noticed a change in the Polices' attitude over the years? As when I first went to the North bank it was terraced and was also during the early 80's and fans were viewed quite shoddily by all.Was it like this during the 50's and 60's?

During the 50`s the crowd was lightly policed,there was no segregation but very little trouble maybe a couple of opposing fans trading a few punches occasionally.Things started hotting up in the 60`s with gangs appearing and trying to take the Home sides main area like the North Bank,Shed etc. This meant a heavier Police presence and they used to get stuck in the younger Policemen seemed to enjoy it.By the 70`s before going to the match you made a last will and testament because you were not sure you would be coming home again in a few sad cases this did happen.Gradually because of better control and CCTV things got better and now trouble it`s more or less eradicated

Having finished work at 1pm we were dressed in uniform charcoal grey suits with white stiff collars and tie and if it was raining we wore raincoats over our suits, there was no sitting, we went in eating hot chestnuts (wow they were lovely) and way up at the back was a cafe serving tea at halftime and you were lucky to get back before the 2nd half started (a bit like today really). As the north end was close to the arsenal tube station we managed to get down there without queuing and back to the west end in no time.

Most people in the 50's dressed quite smartly and we were not out of place.